Additives are commonly sold in combination with bottled water. Currently marketed examples include energy, or health, drinks, where the additive is provided in solution form. Other examples include a medication where the bottled water is supplied simply as a convenience for washing down a pill or a capsule.
In particular instances involving nutritional supplements, however, it is useful to supply the supplement in solid dosage form, similar to the medication example. Doing so improves the shelf stability of a natural active ingredient, and particularly one of a biological derivation, which might otherwise degrade or lose potency over time when in dissolution.
In contrast with the medication circumstance, however, the water is not just a convenience for administering the dosage. It is also a measured amount of ingredient required for the best metabolic results. Therefore, the means for combining the two components into a single package is an important aspect of the product put-up.
The bottle closure typically provides such means in the prior art. For example, in U.S. Patent Application 2003/0000910 to Jang, a cap to a water bottle contains a compartment for the dosage. The compartment is closed with a separate cap, which may be attached by a hinge. In another example, U.S. Patent Application 2008/0000786 to Collotta, the tablet or capsule is housed in a space between a cap and a secondary cap, or over cap. In this version, the over cap is snapped over a standard bottle closure and held in place by a tamper-evident seal. The tamper-evident seal, which conforms to the smooth bottle profile, lacks an undercut feature to wrap around and prevent compromise by slipping it off and on. In both of these examples, the pills or capsules are loose in the cavity spaces and are without the protection of any individual packaging designed for sanitary and safe handling.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,841 to Vlodek, a push-through blister package is housed within an assembly of cap components. The blister is comprised of a thermoformed “pocket” heat sealed to a frangible lidding, typically aluminum foil. The solid dose is contained in the pocket and can be expelled there from by pushing through the lidding. Blister packaging, commonly used for pharmaceutical packaging and usually sited where the dosage is prepared, can provide a sanitary, if not aseptic, means for handling, and a safe means for transporting, the product.
Each of the prior art examples, however, involve an assembly of separate cap components requiring multiple custom tools. For cost reasons, it would be preferable to have a means for utilizing a stock cap and thereby avoiding specialized tooling. What is missing in the prior art is a way to combine a blister package containing an individual dose with a stock cap for a water bottle in a simple and cost-effective construction, which is, at the same time, essentially nonviolable with respect to tamper-evidence.